Boy oh boy, was this ever a good book! The mother of Paulina Jensen AKA Poppy Jade AKA PJ was killed by Tony Fiore AKA Anthony Fuller. Tony had been a thug in his previous life, cc but once he killed paulina's mother, he cleaned up his act and became an investment broker where he made millions. Paulina and her best friend Matt had a plan whereby they were going to kill Anthony for revenge. The plan was that Paulina would pose as Poppy. Jade And she would cozy up to Anthony and get him to marry her. And together, PJ and Matt put together a murder book which was a step-by-step plan to get the murder done.

Kim, who was Tony's ex-girlfriend from high school, worked at a country club that Anthony and PJ frequented. Anthony's boss, Ron and his wife Clara went to the same country club and they always dined together. Kim had a dog, Murphy, who was very ill and was about to die. She needed $10,000 to pay for his surgery. Someone known as The Stranger somehow learned about her plight with Murphy and offered to pay her to kill Anthony. Her job was to put poison in his food, And the poison was provided for her. She wasn't a murderer but she agreed to do it in order to save Murphy, who was her best friend. When it came time to do it she couldn't go through with it. She planned to tell The Stranger that she couldn't do it and she was going to give that person the money back.

It turns out, PJ actually fell in love with Anthony and decided that his friend was the one that killed her mother. She wanted. Matt to meet Anthony, but Matt continued to refuse because basically Matt was jealous of Anthony. Finally. She wore him down and he agreed to have dinner with them. The night of their planned dinner, Matt phone PJ and told her that he needed to talk to her. He told her that he had a picture he wanted her to see and while he was talking to her he sent the picture to her phone. It was a snapshot of Anthony kissing Clara in front of a hotel. Pj was incensed. She couldn't believe she had fallen in love with someone who was cheating on her. So she decided to up the ante. She was not going to marry Anthony after all. She was going to get him to change his will so that she would inherit his millions and she would kill him before the marriage.

Before she got him to change his will, he found her murder book and realized she was going to kill him. He couldn't let that happen. So he decided he was going to get her first. All along, with the knowledge PJ had, she played the good fiancé. And while Anthony knew of her plot, he played the dutiful husband to be. One night during dinner at the country club. PJ convulsed and collapsed. She was dead in a matter of minutes.

This story had all of the elements of a superb who done it. The characters were well developed and they were very believable. The storyline jumped between then and now but it was easy to follow. I really liked the juxtaposition between PJ and Anthony, and Kim was a formidable character. All in all, I liked everything about this book. I gave it five stars.

I have enjoyed other thrillers by Hendricks, so I looked forward to this novel. There was a lot of intrigue and built-up suspense through the first 2/3rds of the novel, though I did find the ending a bit rushed for my liking. I did like the storyline, but didn't love it. Overall, I found it to be a quick read, getting through it in a day.
Thank you NetGalley and Penzler Publishers for this ARC!

👯Book Review👯
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My thoughts- man I wanted to love this book from my fellow Jersey girl author! I loved her first book and haven’t quite hit a homeroom with the rest of them. I went into this blind It just felt to close to the Last Mrs Parrish and the Housemaid. If I had read the synopsis I feel like I maybe would have had a different opinion of this one. My main issue was that Kim was pretty naive and unlikable. I just couldn’t find the drive to root for any of these characters. It’s a popcorn thriller and a quick read but I definitely wanted more substance.
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Rating-⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Summary- A down-on-her-luck waitress at a posh New Jersey country club, Kim Valva couldn’t be living a more different life from the carefree socialites she serves. Then her luck seems to change when a mysterious figure identifying themself only as The Stranger contacts her with an offer she can’t refuse: Put a pill in the new member’s drink and, when he dies, she’ll have enough money to fix her dog and her life.

Her target turns out to be Tony Fiore—Kim’s bad boy ex-boyfriend from high school. Fifteen years have passed, and he now goes by Anthony Fuller. He’s cleaned up, made tens of millions, and his gorgeous fiancée, twenty-two-year-old PJ Walsh, is on his arm.

PJ had her own agenda from the second she met Anthony. Find him, trick him, marry him, kill him. It was supposed to be easy, but she finds that while living her double life, the lines blur between who she is and who she’s pretending to be.

Stunned to see Tony again, Kim can’t bring herself to go through with spiking his drink. Instead, it is PJ who dies horrifically at the table just as dinner ends. Was someone else at the club—member or worker—tasked with poisoning PJ just as she had been instructed to do to Tony? Who would want both of them dead?
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QOTD- most of the time I read a synopsis first, but if it’s an author whose book I’m super excited to read I will absolutely jump in blind! do you read a synopsis first or do you go into a book blind ?
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3.5 stars

A fun thriller with lots of twists and povs. I enjoyed unraveling what exactly was going on but I felt like the mystery itself wasn’t as interesting as I hoped it would be. I also found Kim kinda a doormat and annoying and the only good character was Matt.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review

Just finished this and MIND BLOWN! It was my first by this author and I was pleasantly surprised! This book was well crafted, clever, deceitful, and fun! I read a lot of thrillers and found this to be super engaging, twisty, and salacious! I loved that I kept changing how I felt about Anthony/Tony and PJ. It was fun for them to oscillate between "awww" and "well aren't you a nasty thang!" about both of them as the story unfolded. I liked Kim throughout and appreciated how her character kind of kept the story grounded. I haven't read a fun thriller like this in awhile and absolutely recommend for readers who enjoy Freida McFadden or Alice Feeney. To me the best thrillers are those that don't follow the "unreliable female narrator trope" but still leave me thinking/guessing throughout and this definitely checks that box! I did guess a couple of the minor twists but it didn't deter me from appreciating the true craftsmanship of the author. Now I must devour her whole backlog!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

This was a fun, quick and entertaining read. I will say that I didn’t connect well with the characters, and the plot motivation seemed to strain credibility. This was a bit of a distraction at times, but over all I did enjoy the book.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a very over the top dramatic popcorn thriller with a whole lot of unlikable characters, but a very lovable dog. It’s broken into two timelines and has several POVs so you do have to pay attention to the chapter start to see when/who you’re following. There was a lot of repetitive internal thought (never my fav) and there were some aspects of the plot that didn’t really make sense to me. It has short chapters and is a moderate to fast pace, which made for a quick read. I was able to predict most of the plot but there a few things that surprised me. It’s not my fav by the author, but it would be a great book for the pool or beach when you want something easy to read.

Thanks Scarlet, Penzler Publishers and Netgalley for the DRC!

Kim is struggling to make ends meet when she is approached by a stranger about facilitating the murder of a guest at the country club she works at for a large sum of money. All she would need to do is slip a pill into the drink of a long ago boyfriend. Initially, she agrees but gets cold feet. However, the man's current girlfriend mysteriously dies during dinner that same night forcing Kim to wonder who wants both of the them dead and why. Lot of well timed twists that will keep you guessing.

I love Jaime Lynn Hendricks’ brain. With Their Double Lives, she has created another fun, fast thriller. Kim and PJ are excellent foils and I loved reading both of their POV’s. It’s always fun reading how the rich completely don’t think the rules apply to them and how murder and revenge is the solution to their problems. I kept waiting for the next twist and turn and I was never disappointed. Another thing to note is that I always love how sarcastic and biting Hendricks makes her characters. It speaks to my soul.

I devoured her last book-A Lovely Lie. So when this became available-I knew I needed to read it!

This was SO good!!! This is such an easy, quick read. You will find yourself wanting to keep reading. I think one night I put off eating dinner until almost 10pm because I just wanted to keep reading!!!

The title is perfect for the book!! The intertwining secrets & the character development is pure perfection. Multiple POVs but well organized & easy to follow. So much deception!!!! I loved it.

Bravo!

Twisty, twisted, and intertwined! Another riveting book by Jaime Lynn Hendricks, Their Double Lives is impossible to put down. For lovers of suspense, author Hendricks delivers the perfect read.

A thought-provoking double premise: What would you be willing to do to save the life of your beloved pet? How far would you go to get revenge for the death of a loved one? Two women, their all-consuming goals, and the man who connects them set the stage for this thriller in which characters aren’t who they claim to be. The title says it all. Double lives. Two identities, two personalities, and the mix of past and present lives lead the reader down a winding path with shocking revelations at each turn of the page.

A delicious blend of third and first-person points of view, along with the past and present tense, provides an overall picture of the plot while delving into the psyches and motivation of the main players. And just when you think you’ve got them figured out, another bombshell drops. Murder never goes quite the way it’s planned.

A fast-paced ride with chapter after chapter of cliffhangers, Their Double Lives is a delightfully wicked murder plot that will keep you guessing right to the last page. Don’t bother starting until you have a long block of uninterrupted reading time available.

Just when I think Jaime Lynn Hendricks has thought of everything - think again. This one is deliciously entertaining. It's fast-paced and full of twists, making it my new favorite JLH book! I am especially glad the author loves dogs so much ;) I hope we don't have to wait too long for her next book, because I'm obsessed.

Kim, a waitress at a posh country club, is offered a chance to save her dog who needs an operation to save his life. The problem, she is asked to spike the drink of Anthony, her former boyfriend, and a guest at the country club with his new fiancee. When PJ, the fiancee dies at their table, the same night, Kim knows something else is amiss. We hear from Kim's point of view in the present and PJ in the past, Thank you Jaime Lynn!

Thank you to Penzler & Scarlet for the gifted book!

Wow-Jaime Lynn is back 👏👏

Her books are insanely easy to fly through, but insanely hard to predict! The curve balls in this one were CRAZY!

I think I have whiplash from these characters and THEIR DOUBLES LIVES!

Even the ending has me second guessing everything I thought I knew about everything!!

Can't wait for more Jaime 👏👏

f you’re looking for a beach read/mystery, grab this book. This is a fun one to go in blind and see where it leads you.
Messy characters? Check. Indecent proposal? Check. Unreliable narrators? Check. Can’t put it down and need to get to the next chapter immediately? Double check. I devoured this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers|Scarlet for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4.5/5

My friends on Instagram have been raving about this book and author so I had to give it a try. Well…they were right. I loved this book and can’t wait to read this author again.

This was such a fun popcorn thriller. Multiple points of view, dual timelines and a cast of characters that will keep you turning the pages. There were so many secrets, twists and turns that I had a hard time figuring out who The Stranger was. I loved/hated the different characters at different times. They slowly revealed their true self. The ending was so satisfying. Fast paced, quick read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penzler Publishing/Scarlet Suspense for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

Jaime Lynn Hendricks does it again! Their Double Lives is a fast-paced psychological thriller packed with secrets, shifting narratives, and enough deception to make your head spin — in the best way.

The characters? Messy, manipulative, and impossible to trust — which is exactly what makes them so fun to follow. Hendricks keeps the tension high and the pages turning. I genuinely didn’t know who to root for… or who was about to stab whom in the back (metaphorically… mostly).

Docked a star only because one or two late-game twists felt a tad over-the-top, but hey — when you're this entertained, who's complaining?

If you love thrillers where every chapter ends with “Wait, WHAT?!” — add this to your TBR. And maybe sleep with one eye open.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc. Everyone loves a good old revenge story. This seemed more like a beachy read, rather than an intense thriller. The characters weren't as well rounded as I'd hoped, but overall a good story. And you can see why the main character did what she did

Their Double Lives is a fast-paced, twisty and smart thriller that kept me hooked from start to finish!
Kim Valva would do anything for her dog, but does that include killing someone? She can't afford the life-saving surgery her dog needs on her salary as a graphic designer and part-time waitress at a New Jersey shore country club, so when a mystery stranger approaches her with a proposal that she slip some poison into a new member's meal when she serves them at the country club in exchange for more than enough money to save her beloved dog, Kim decides she has to do it. However, when the target turns out to be her high school sweetheart, Tony, there with his fiancee PJ, can Kim still go through with it? The story is told from multiple perspectives, primarily focusing on Tony and PJ's romance and alternating between past and present. The pacing of the story and timing of critical information being revealed was excellent. The characters are well developed and their perspectives so clearly presented that I found myself constantly changing who I was "rooting for".

Thanks to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers for an advanced reader copy of Their Double Lives in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, wow, wow! Jaime Lynn Hendricks does it again. Always delivers edge of your seat thrillers. 5 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟.